My Roommate's Brother
by Cheeseball417
Summary: Here I am. A huge house, a bunch of family friends, and being right on the beach. What's wrong with that? Oh maybe the fact my roommate's brother hates me, and I don't exactly hate him back.
1. Chapter 1

**A.N.** For those of you who don't know, I'm new to WattPad. This is my first story; so let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

"We're here!" My dad called from the front seat.

"Thank the Lord!" I yelled as I jumped out of the car, my bother following close beside me.

Hi. I'm Payton Chloe Grace. Use my middle name, and I will most likely hate you forever. I had been sitting in the car for over twelve hours. Not to mention those twelve hours were spent squished against my brother and the door.

"Mom! The Grace's are here!" Claire called from her seat on the deck. She ran down the stairs of the house we were all renting. "Payton! Oh my god! I've missed you soooo much!" She exclaimed, practically strangling me as she hugged me. "The roommate list is up! You have to come check it out." She released me.

She grabbed my little Mickey Mouse bag that held my laptop, iPod, phone and other things I need to keep myself occupied for twelve hours and I grabbed my suitcase and we went inside the bottom floor. We brought all the stuff into the elevator and pressed the second floor button.

Now, while we wait to get to the second floor, let me give you a short tour of our surroundings and what's going on.

First off, it is the middle of summer, the first week of August to be exact. We are in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, the Mark Twain House on the 4x4. It is a three levels, 18 bedroom, 15 and 2 1/2 bathroom house. Long story short, it's _huge._ Every year, my family, plus eight more would rent this house out for a week. That's nine families, with 23 kids ranging from ages 5 to 16 with 18 adults to keep us all in check...

On the first floor, there are 12 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms. There is also a 'game room' which has a bar (which we use for snacks and extra seats since it is right in front a flat screen TV), a pool table (usually used for water pong, which for those of you who don't know is the 'kid' version of beer pong), and the TV I mentioned before. Basically this floor belongs to the kids, and four sets of parents to 'keep us in check', but since they are always upstairs, it doesn't work.

On the second floor is the main floor. There is the kitchen/dining room, the Living room, and exercise room (which is never used) along with the entrance area that has a grand piano and a sitting area. The living room has three couches (which do no good with this many people), a flat screen and another bar. The kitchen has the general kitchen stuff, except it is stocked to the bursting point with food, and three tables that seat ten people apiece. The entrance hall is sort of difficult to explain, but I'll try. It is this huge room. There is a grand piano and sitting area like I said. Across from that is the stairs to the bottom floor, then on top of those stairs are the stairs to the third floor. On the other side on the stairs is the front door. Did you get that? 'Cause I didn't.

On the third floor, the stairs open into a sitting area, which has a balcony to over look the piano. Then there are two hallways going off to opposite sides. Each side had 3 bedrooms, 6 bedrooms total. Each bedroom upstairs has its own bathroom. Also there were 2 laundry rooms in addition to 1 on the first floor that I forgot to mention...

Anyway, back to the real story. We were still in the elevator. And I was thinking 'how long does it take to transport two fourteen year old girls and two bags up a floor?' I mean, it's been what, three minutes and we weren't there yet... never mind. Here we are. We stepped out of the elevator after having a panic attack when the door wouldn't open.

We walked into the kitchen, which for probably the only time during the vacation was empty. There was a piece of paper tapped onto one of the pillars. We walked over to it dropping the bags onto a chair. I looked at the list, trying to find my name. It didn't take long since it was the first one. _Payton Grace... Ruth Ford... Room 1_. _Great..._

"Cool! I'm rooming with Emily!" Claire exclaimed.

"Lucky you. I'm with Ruth." I said.

"Oh." Was her lame response.

It's not that I don't love Ruth, I do, sort of, it's just she is _obnoxious_ with a capital O. I'm the only one who is nice enough to room with her, since no one really likes her. I feel bad, she has ADD and ADHD and a bunch of other learning disabilities. I have nothing against people that have learning disabilities, but sometimes it annoys me.

"Well, Emily isn't coming until tomorrow... you can sleep in our room with me if you want." Claire said. Now you know your roommate is bad when _Claire Palmer_ is offering to let you stay with her instead. That is pretty much Claire saying no one wants to room with Ruth. And in 'Claire language' that means a lot of bad things, since Claire is the nicest thing in the world.

"I'll be fine." I said. I would be nice to Ruth. It would be so much easier.

"Payton!" I voice yelled. I turned towards the voice. There was Lena and Annie. They were two of my good friends here along with Claire and Emily.

"Hey." I said, hugging Lena, who had run forward to tackle me. I then hugged Annie. I took in the three girls.

First there was Lena. She was a year younger than the rest of us, but probably knew more about _life_ than the rest of us. She was a little on the large side, but was still one of the prettiest girls I know. She had strait dirty blonde hair and pretty brown eyes. She had a kind face and a warm smile. But don't let her looks fool you; she can be evil when she _wants_. And it was common knowledge that she _hated_ Ruth, who was in her grade.

Then there was Annie. She was 14 like Claire and I. She was really athletic. In fact her whole family (minus her little sister) were really athletic. She had brown hair that had a bunch of waves in it. Her hair was a little frizzy, but it wasn't ugly frizzy, it just made her hair look prettier.

Claire was the definition of sweet. She was a little on the short size and was skinny, but not un-healthy skinny. She had tan skin, like the other two, she had brown hair and eyes that matched Annie's. I sometimes wondered if they were sisters, since they looked so much a like and had been BFFL's forever.

"Now, if you don't mind. I would like to go brush my teeth for the morning." I said as I grabbed my luggage and went back to the elevator.

"You haven't brushed your teeth yet?" Lena called after me. I stuck my head out of the elevator door.

"We drove through the night. We didn't stop at a hotel." I responded before going back into the elevator and pressing the button with the '3' on it.

I quickly got rid of my luggage in my parent's room since my mom had an order for drawers and I didn't want to mess it up. I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste. I quickly rushed my teeth and spent a minute looking at my reflection in the mirror.

All the other girls had a word to describe themselves with whether it was pretty or athletic, sweet or crazy. I had nothing. I was just _plain._ I had pail skin, sure it was flawless, but if I go out into the sun for any period of time without sunscreen, it burns. I have pretty black hair that naturally goes into soft ringlet curls, but I ruin it by pulling it into a ponytail that just makes it look weird. My favorite feature would have to be me eyes, even with the slight bags under them. They were a bright, bright blue and my eyelashes were so long and dark that I never needed to wear mascara when I did shows.

Now for those of you who didn't pick these things up, I'm the kind of girl who everyone says is gorgeous, but knows that isn't true. I'm plain. I am the type of girl who _needs_ to have her hair in a ponytail no matter what, but I'm not that into sports, though I do play soccer and basketball. I love drama and singing. I used to play piano and viola, but I can't to save my life anymore. Then again, I was really smart, which sort of makes me a dork or nerd or whatever... Basically I was just plain. At least that's what I thought. After all, no guy has ever asked me out. So there must not be anything worthwhile about me.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a knock on the door. I walked out of the bathroom to the door. I opened the door.

"Hey she witch."

"Hey Shane." Was my response. "You can put them down over there." I said referring to the bags he was carrying.

Shane was Ruth's sixteen-year-old brother. He was going into junior year in high school. And he was the exact opposite of his sister. While she was short and chunky, he was tall and lean, but you can tell he had muscles. She hated anything that involved a work out; he played lacrosse whenever he could. She had brown frizzy hair and he had sleek black hair that was in a Justin Bieber-ish style. She had brownish green eyes and he had bright green eyes. In short, he was beautiful. The only draw back, was every time he opened his big mouth.

"When did you guys get in?" I asked. Trying to be nice. He _hated _me. I have no clue why, but he did. He always had since today last year, when I set foot in this house. But whatever.

"This morning." He answered, glaring down at me. "What's up with the homeless person attire?"

I ignored his jab. I had been in the car for 12 hours, in a back seat with my little brothers overnight. Not exactly comfortable, the least I could do was wear comfy giant sweatpants that were twice my size and a tight spaghetti strap top that showed off my boobs. "What time?"

"What does it matter?" He was getting impatient.

I shrugged. "I dunno. Just thought I would try to be nice, so this year my fan doesn't magically get flour on it." He laughed at the prank he had pulled on me.

"Whatever. We got in around six." He responded. He went to walk out the door, but I blocked him.

"Can I ask you something?" He was quiet so I continued, "_Why _do you hate me?" That was what I cared about. I didn't care that he did hate me, but I did care about the fact it seemed to be for no reason.

"I don't know. I just do." Was his response. We were silent for a moment, leaning against opposite sides of the doorway, just staring at each other's eyes (notice it isn't gazing, it's staring. Gazing is romantic, Staring is sizing up an enemy), green meeting blue. Then he turned away and walked off own the hall.

God I hate him so much.

**A.N.** So how was it? This was sort of just the start I know it's a little slow. It will (hopefully) get better in the next chapter or two. Sorry for grammar. I do try my best.


	2. Chapter 2

_ "Can I ask you something?" He was quiet so I continued, "Why do you hate me?" That was what I cared about. I didn't care that he did hate me, but I did care about the fact it seemed to be for no reason._

_ "I don't know. I just do." Was his response. We were silent for a moment, leaning against opposite sides of the doorway, just staring at each other's eyes (notice it isn't gazing, it's staring. Gazing is romantic, Staring is sizing up an enemy), green meeting blue. Then he turned away and walked off own the hall._

_ God I hate him so much._

"I don't understand this show." I said. It was probably around eleven at night. All us mid-kid girls were in the 'main' bedroom, watching some show Lena 'loved'.

"How can you not get it? It is a reality show!" Lena scolded from her place on the top bunk.

"Saw-ry." I dragged out. "It's weird."

"Whatever." Claire said, turning off the TV. "Let's play a game."

"What game?" Annie asked, from her spot on the top bunk.

"I brought truth or dare cards that I made! I'll get them!" Lena called. Before we could say anything, she was off the bed and out the room.

Let me explain how we have the kids split up. There are four age groups in our house. The high-schoolers, which is everyone in high school except for our grade, since there are so many of us, so it is really grades 10-12. There are 9 kids in that group, one is in our grade, but he hangs out with them more so, whatever. They are referred to as the 'big kids' or 'older kids' by everyone. Then there's the freshman, which is were we are, plus Lena who is in eighth grade. We are called the 'mid-kids' and there are five of us, counting Lena. We were one of the smaller groups, but we didn't really hang out with anyone else. Next there was the 'younger kids'. There were six of them, ranging from Ruth at 13 down to Audrey at 10. And last, there were the 'little kids'. There were three, one was seven, another six and my littlest brother, Ashton, was five.

So those are the groups. We each have a room we share with someone in our 'age group' except me, since I share with Ruth, but we all have 'main rooms' that are sort of our groups bases. The older kids dominated the entertainment room with the pool table. My group had the largest of the three bedrooms we occupied as base. The room had a big TV and bunk beds so it worked the best. The other two groups sort of just ran around the house, no base really.

"Back!" Lena yelled as she ran back into the room shutting the door behind her.

"Do we have to play? I really don't like..." Claire started.

"Yes." I cut her off. I loved this game, "Okay. Lena first. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare." Lena responded.

I picked a card off of the top of the dare pile. Claire and Annie leaned over to read it. I smirked, "Go stand on top of the pool table and dance to In the Ayer."

"Okay." Lena grabbed her iPod. We followed her out of the room, around the corner and into the main room. She pulled an iPod out of the dock. She climbed up onto the pool table, interrupting a game of water pong that was going on between Shane and Lena's older brother, Griffin. Griffin just watched his sister climb onto the table. Shane however turned not on her, but to me who was trying to find the song on her iPod.

"Payton. What the..."

"Shut up. It's a dare. Give her four minutes. You'll probably enjoy it you perve." I said cutting him off. I didn't turn around, but I knew he had sat down and was glaring daggers at my back.

"Attention everyone! We have a dare going on!" I called. In a house filled with teenagers, this was a daily (more like hourly) occurrence. Everyone walked away to either sit to watch or stand by the wall. I gave Lena the countdown and started the song. Soon she was dancing a lot like I imagine a striper would.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Hampton's, but the kids aren't exactly prude. The eldest, Griffin, is sixteen. He is probably the prudest, but he is a perve. Then there is Cassidy. She is fifteen, dresses and acts a bit like a slut. Then there was Lena, and she isn't as bad as her sister, but she wasn't great.

We all watched her dare, I was aware of a few guys drooling. Trust me, I'm not lesbian or anything, but it is common knowledge that Lena and Cassidy Hampton for _hot_. So to see one of them up there dance, was like heaven for the guys. When the dare finished, we all walked back to the room.

"Well that was fun." Lena said, a little out of breath. "Pay, your turn."

"Great. Um, truth." This should be fun. I thought as I replied.

"Okay." Lena picked up a card. "Oh. This is no good. 'Who do you hate most in this house?' It's obvious!" She complained throwing to the card to the side.

"Shane!" We all yelled in unison. We all broke down laughing.

"Girls. Bed time." Mr. Wilson said, sticking his head through the door.

"But Mr. W, it's still early." Lena whined. She was by far the most out going of the five of us.

"Everyone's sleep schedule is messed up from the ride. Bed." Now Mr. W used to be a cop. Out here, were it is mile to the police station, he carried a gun at all times. We don't know where on his body it was, but we knew it was there. That, plus the fact he was like six foot, we tended to listen to him.

"Fine." We grumbled. And he left.

Claire left through the bathroom that connected her room to the one we were in. "Night." She called before shutting the door. We all said goodnight back.

Annie climbed up onto the top bed. And I left to go to my room across the hall, saying goodnight. I stopped outside my door, hearing voices. One was Ruth's, the other was Shane's. I sighed and walked out into the main room that was deserted. I opened up one of the laptops on the bar and played around with the keys. I figured it wouldn't be too long.

I was right, because a minute or two later, Shane walked into the room. "Why aren't you in bed." He demanded.

"Because you were in my room." I responded curtly. I stood up and went to walk to my room. "Goodnight." I called opening the door. Before I closed the door I thought I heard "Goodnight Pay." But it couldn't have happened. He hated me, and the only nicknames he used for me were mean and rude. He wouldn't call me Pay. He just wouldn't.


	3. Chapter 3

_I was right, because a minute or two later, Shane walked into the room. "Why aren't you in bed." He demanded._

_ "Because you were in my room." I responded curtly. I stood up and went to walk to my room. "Goodnight." I called opening the door. Before I closed the door I thought I heard "Goodnight Pay." But it couldn't have happened. He hated me, and the only nicknames he used for me were mean and rude. He wouldn't call me Pay. He just wouldn't._

I really didn't want to get up. Then again I had been lying there in bed for a while. It must be late. So with that thought, I opened my eyes, threw the covers off and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I looked over my shoulder at Ruth, who wasted no time in changing her position from diagonal to horizontal in the queen-sized bed.

"Ugh." I groaned. My back and neck were killing me. I hadn't slept much since Ruth took up practically the entire bed. It wasn't even the fact that she was big, it was more of the fact she slept so she took up so much room. It left a lot of room, but not enough for me to squeeze into.

I glanced at the clock. _Crap._ It was five thirty. _Ugh. _I had been sleeping until noon all summer long, so of course the one week we are on vacation, I wake up early. _Lovely._

I grabbed my Spanish book and walked out of the room and upstairs. I was offered an opportunity in school. Apparently I was soooo good at French that I should take Spanish. The only reason I was 'soooo good' at French, was because I cram the night before a test, plus the period before.

I walked into the living room and sat on a couch. I started to read. It started with the basics, _Hola, Como te lamas, bien_, you get the idea, and it works its way up to _hace calor _and_ tienes_ and all that other stuff. I was probably five pages into the book when the couch shifted. I glanced up and saw a figure sitting at the other end.

"Ugh it's you." They said. I couldn't see their face, since they had the hood of their sweatshirt up, but I would know that voice anywhere.

"You know what Shane? I was here first; _you_ sat down next to _me_. So you know what? Go sit somewhere else." I said, not looking up at him.

"I was born first, _sweetie._" He said, ripping the book out of my hands.

"What the heck? I was using that you know!" I yelled, trying to grab the book back.

"And I would care because?" He said, turning on the TV and leaning away from me.

"Because I was here first!" I yelled, leaning over him, trying to get my book. He kept his arm extending out beyond the couch with my book in his hand.

"Well I was _born _first! Now go get me breakfast." he said flipping through the channels.

"First off, that doesn't matter. Second, there is _no_ way, I'm making you breakfast!" I yelled. By now I was pretty much sitting on him trying to get my book.

"_Why not!_" He whined.

"Because! Ya big baby!" I whined back.

"Oh ya? Big baby am I?" He wrapped the arm that wasn't holding the book around me. He flipped me off of his lap and onto the other end of the couch. "Can a baby do that?" He asked, dropping the book on my lap.

"You suck." I said. I stood up. I walked out of the room and into the kitchen.

I went through almost every cupboard before I found what I was looking for. _Pop Tarts._ I took two packets out of the box. I put them in the toaster and went to find something to drink. I settled on a tall glass of milk, after all hot fudge sundaes flavored pop tarts go great with milk. I walked back into the living room, "Are pop tarts okay for you, my lord?" I asked sarcastically.

"Well, I was thinking a tall stack of pancakes..." he saw the look on my face, "but pop tarts will do." He stood and together we walked into the kitchen.

He poured himself a glass of milk. The pop tarts popped up. I put them on plates and brought them outside to the deck where people always eat. He brought the two glasses of milk and followed me.

After a bit of maneuvering, we ending up sitting next to each other with our own food on our laps and our drinks on the ground beside our feet. _It's soooo hot!_ I thought. I was only in a pair of plaid, gilly hicks boxer shorts and a tank top. For those of you who don't know, those two articles of clothing were pretty skimpy and showed off a lot.

"You look hot." I said. After all, he was wearing a heavy winter sweatshirt, a long pair of pajama pants, and socks.

"Oh, I know I'm hot. Thanks for admitting it." He said, smirking at me.

_Crap. _"That's not what I meant and you know it." I said. I could feel my cheeks heating up, " I mean you look hot, as in sweating... why don't you take your sweatshirt off or something." I said.

"Okay." He said. The smirk was still there. He pulled his shirt up over his head.

_Oh, crap._ No shirt. And as much as I hate him, he was _hot._ Like sexy hot, not sweaty hot. He was well built. You could see how muscley his arms were, but they weren't _creepy_ muscley. They were healthy muscley, the kind that only comes from sports and working, not spending hours upon hours at the gym. His chest was _nice_. He had a nice six-pack. His chest was firm and tan. _God I hate him and his beautiful chest and arms. Unfair._

"You can stop staring at any time you know." He said. _Crap I had been staring at him too long. _

"Don't flatter yourself." I rolled my eyes, but my cheeks flared red.

"You know you love it." He said, taking a huge bite out of his pop tart.

"Whatever you say, old man." I said, taking a bite out of mine, "And if you don't mind me asking, how did an old man like you, become so self centered?"

He was quiet. After a couple minutes, he spoke. "When I was born, there were no other kids in our family. I got all the attention, and I loved it." He paused, "Then three years later, Ruth was born. So I had to share my attention. It wasn't too bad, since I was still getting a lot of attention with all the 'Do you like being a big brother?' and 'Are you happy you got a little sister?' and all that. Then, when she was in first grade and I was in forth, we found out she had learning disabilities. That was when I lost _all _of the attention. My parents started to worry about her and checking for other problems. So since then, I tried to get attention any way I could." He was silent.

Great, now I feel bad. The poor guy was pushed aside and his sister got all of his attention. Even though it was a good reason his sister had a good reason to get the attention, it still must have hurt.

"I'm sorry."

"Whatever." He stood up, empty plate in his hand. _When did he eat that? _"Oh and by the way." I looked up at him, "Your shorts are to short, _no one_ wants to see _those_ legs." He walked back into the house.

"My legs are skinny! Jerk!" I yelled at the closed door. _And the nice moment is over._


	4. Chapter 4

**SPOV:** (For a bit, I thought it would be fun to do Shane's POV)

"Your shorts are to short, _no one_ wants to see _those_ legs." I said walking into the house. I thought I heard her yell something at me, something about her legs, but I couldn't hear it.

"Already?" A voice asked from across the room.

"Yes mom, already." I said, walking across the room and giving my mother a kiss. Either I was tall or she was short, or maybe a bit of both, but I _towered_ over her. Like her head was barely up to my chest.

"You should cut the girl some slack." She said as she started the coffee maker.

"Why?" I asked.

"For one thing, she is a sweet, sweet girl. She is the only one in this house who is friendly with your sister..." I knew that was a sensitive spot with my mother.

"Come on. Noah and Colton play with her." I said.

"I know." She paused. I knew she didn't count those two since they were a year or two younger than Ruth plus they were boys, not even guys yet, just _boys_. "Anyway. Payton has never done anything bad to you that I heard of. And you just single her out." She said.

"She just bugs me, in ways that I can't explain." I said quietly, and it was the truth.

"I think you know why though." My mom said.

I thought for a moment, "Do you mean... I have no idea what you're talking about." I said.

"Shane, admit it. You _like_ her." My mom teased me.

"I don't though." I responded.

"You like her. You like her. You really really like her." My mom continued.

I'm going to tell you this now my parents and their friend are kind of immature. For example a bunch of them went to a concert last month. What's so bad about that? The fact it was a Flo Rida concert. We are talking women with 15 and 16 year old kids going to a Flo Rida concert. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with that?

"Mom." I said trying to get her to stop. She didn't. "Mom." This time a little louder. Still, she kept going.

"Mrs. Ford? Are you teasing Shane?" A new voice said from the door. I turned. Of course. There was Payton, and empty glass and plate in her hands. "That's my job. You know that." She threw the paper plate away and placed the cup in the sink.

"Oh. I know sweetie. I'm just having some fun with my son." She paused and looked at me meaningfully, "When you have kids you'll understand." Then she looked back over at Payton. "Honey, it's 100 degrees out, why are you wearing a sweatshirt, and Shane why aren't you wearing a shirt?" She seemed to only notice my shirt predicament now.

I didn't know how to answer this. The parents were _really_ strict on the whole female/male interaction. But in a house of teenaged kids, you kind of have to be...

"We were outside and it got really windy all of a sudden, and I was cold. I was complaining soooo much, Shane just gave me his sweatshirt." Payton answered. I had to admit, she was a pretty good liar.

"Oh. Okay than, Shane, just put a shirt on before everyone else wakes up." My mom said, taking her coffee and walking up stairs, probably back to her room.

"Your welcome." Payton said, shrugging off the sweatshirt.

"For..." I trailed.

"Do you honestly think I lied for me? I wouldn't have gotten in trouble." She said, incredulously.

_Crap._ She was right. She had only asked if I was hot, and said I should take off my sweatshirt. She didn't know I had no shirt on underneath, but I did. I would have been in deep trouble.

"Honestly, I think you wanted to lie. You didn't want me to get into trouble." I teased her. I was just joking, but then I saw the look on her face. "Oh my god. I'm right. You didn't want me to get in trouble! Ha! Little Miss Payton Grace trying to get bad boy Shane Ford out of trouble how sweet."

"Shut up." She said meekly. I knew she was shy in school, so this must be torture. But I kept going.

"Why? Do you like me? Huh? Is my chest soooo dreamy that you fell in love with me?" She didn't say anything. "You love me, you love me, Payton loves me." I sang. I kept going over and over.

"First off, I do not love you." She said. Her voice was deadly quiet, but each word dripped enough venom to kill, I stopped. "Second of all, I only did it because I hate to see other people get in trouble in front of me, whether its you are some other idiot." Again, the words were each venomous enough to kill a person. "And thirdly. I absolutely, hate you." With that she dropped my sweatshirt, into the garbage can no less, and took off out of the house.

_Shit. I had gone way to far._ I had pissed her off soooo much she actually ran out. Payton. Had ran out. I had never seen her run away from anything, she always fought back. And she hardly ever got angry. _I went wayyyyy to far._

"Um Shane? What's up?" A voice came. But it sounded far away, "Shane." Someone shook me. I snapped back to reality. It was Cassidy. She was in shorts that were even shorter than Payton's and a tank top that went _really_ low. "Shane what happened?"

For a moment I couldn't speak. "I was teasing Payton."

"No duh. You do that everyday." She said rolling her eyes.

"No. This time, I wasn't _teasing._ This time I was being _cruel_." I sounded ashamed even to myself.

"What did you say?" I didn't say anything. "Okay then, where is she?"

"I don't know. She ran out of the house." I responded.

"Well, don't be an idiot! Go after her!" With that she practically pushed me out the door.

I ran down the stairs. I looked into the pool table area since there was a door. No Payton. I figured she wouldn't go into her room. She was sweet enough that she wouldn't want to wake Ruth. I ran down the boardwalk that connected our house to the beach. I stood at the end and scanned the beach.

There she was. A lone figure standing in the water. She wasn't deep. Just deep enough that the water was about mid-calf on her. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

I slowly walked down the stairs that led to the beach. I sat down on the bottom step. I pulled of my pants. Now before you go thinking, what the %*#!, I have swim trunks on underneath. While we are here, we do a lot of odd things. One of these things include going in the hot tub at three in the morning. After two years of this, I learned to _always_ have a bathing suit on.

I hung the pajama pants on the railing and carefully walked down to the water. For those of you who aren't familiar with the 4x4, let me tell you something about them. They are like a road. There are cars constantly going by near the water and up top near the dunes and boardwalks. In the middle of these two 'roads' there is apart for people to park and set up chairs and all that stuff. Remember all of this is happening on sand, so there were a lot of ruts where cars had driven, so crossing the 'road' was difficult.

I walked into the water and stood beside her. I knew she knew I was there, I mean, how couldn't she, but she didn't say anything. We just stood there. The silence wasn't warm and comfortable, but it wasn't cold and tense, so I could deal with it.

"I'm sorry." I said, breaking the long silence. My voice sounded odd in the silence that had been occupied by the waves and cars previously. She said nothing. "Payton. I really am sorry." Still nothing. "Payton. Please at least acknowledge my existence." Nothing. "Please Pay. I'm sorry." I was at a last resort. I used the nickname. I don't know how it started, but it seemed right. I saw an eyebrow twitch. "Pay. Payton. Please. Say something." And she was back to stone. Then I noticed something. I didn't know how I hadn't seen it before.

The sun had hit her face just right that I saw something twinkle. It was a tear. A single, lone tear. Working it's way down her cheek. _I made her cry._

I had no idea what to do. I was absolutely no good with crying. So I just let instinct take over. I pulled her into a hug, and to my surprise she made no move to stop me. So we stood there she had her hands in fists beneath her chin, and her head against my chest. I had my arms wrapped around her body and I rested my chin on her head. Now she was crying openly.

"I am so sorry." I said, "I didn't mean to hurt you. I was joking. Like we usually do..." I trailed off.

"That wasn't why I was crying." She spoke for the first time.

"Why? If you don't want to tell me don't, but why were you crying?" I asked. This girl had a perfect life. She was great in school, she was great in sports. She was one of the popular girls in school, but not one of the slutty and bitchy ones. She was the kind who earned it. The kind who no one talked bad about because she was everyone's friends. In fact I knew she didn't even have friendemies, which really meant something. He family was loaded with cash, and she pretty much had her pick of collages to choose from, and she had just finished middle school. What could possibly make her cry?

"You cannot tell anyone." She said quietly. I nodded. She didn't see it, but I knew she could feel it. She was quiet. I was wondering if she had decided not to tell me after all, "I wasn't my parent's first child." She said. _What?_ That was one thing I was absolutely not expecting, or prepared for. I could deal with the whole, I'm not a virgin, or I'm pregnant and everything else like that, but this. I was just lost.

"I was the second child. I used to have an older sister, Ashlyn. She was three years older than me." She said _used _to. This isn't good. "When I was five, she was eight. This was before any of you knew our family. In fact, back then we were still living back in New York." I had known that the Graces had come from New York City. That was one thing that surprised me about Payton; she was down to earth, not materialistic. "We had been playing with our dolls. And I know this sounds like a nightmare, but it's true. I said, I hated her because she took one of my dolls dresses. We got into a huge fight. Our parents were out and our neighbor/babysitter had ran across the hall to her room to get some toy she had bought for Colton, he was really little at the time. I yelled at her and ran into our room. We had been in the main room of our apartment..." That didn't sound that much like a nightmare, "Then, I heard a noise from the other room." She had a far away look in her eyes, "I cracked the door open a bit, just enough so I could peek out. There was a man standing in front of the open window. I didn't know how he had gotten in there and I still don't know, we were on the third story. He couldn't have came from the roof since it was a six floor building." She started to shudder.

I didn't want her to tell me something she didn't want to. "If you want to stop..."

"She caught my eyes. She stayed calm and gave me a look that said, 'no matter what you do, don't come out or make a sound.' I understood. Then as the man drew neared, she sent me another look, this one had a hint of fear, it said 'Don't come out, no matter what'. And then I watched my sister get raped." I gasped. "The entire time I had wanted to run to her, to do something. But I couldn't. I stood frozen. When the man was done, he killed her with a pocketknife. That was when our neighbor, Ms. Dooman came running in. I'm guessing she had heard Ashlyn's screams, so she left Colton in her apartment and ran in here." She paused, "The man killed her as well. After that, the man climbed out the window and fell out of sight. I stood frozen a while longer. When I got enough courage, I ran across the room and called 911. I went into Ms. Dooman's apartment; her nephew was there caring for Colton, so I just ran back out. He didn't see me, so he didn't follow me. I ran back into the room and sobbed like you wouldn't believe. I put my sister's cloths back on her, and I pretty much laid on top of her, sobbing my eyes out. The police got there a half hour later. My parents were with them. My mother was crying even more than I was, my father was just in shock. His eldest daughter. Dead." I was amazed she wasn't crying. I was on the verge of tears. "The last thing I had said to my older sister before she was raped then killed was I hate you. And the entire time she was being raped, she was looking right at me. Her eyes boring into mine." She was silent. It was almost as if she was in a trance.

"We _never_ talk about her anymore... but any picture where it is just her or her and Colton, it is somewhere in the house. This way, we aren't forgetting her, but if we want we can pretend it's me. Colton and Ashton don't remember her at all, they have no idea she existed. But I do. Every night, as corny as it sounds, I pray to her. I thank her for all she did. I apologize over and over again. Begging that she forgive me." I can't believe she had just told me that entire story. And she had stopped crying in the middle of it. But now, all the tears let loose. I picked her up like a small child. I carefully carried her across the sand and up the stairs. I left my pants; I'd get them later. She complained the entire way, she hated showing weakness, but I kept going.

It was still early, so I brought her to her room. I laid her down on the bed. Ruth must have gone upstairs because she wasn't there. She was pretty much asleep when I set her down. Her eyelids closed and her breathing started to even out. The tears stopped and I wiped the remaining ones from her face.

I studied her for a moment. She had a beautiful face; in fact she was beautiful all around. Her legs were long, but not too long. Her breasts were large, but not too large. Her nose was just the right shape and size. On whole, she was perfection in a 5 foot 5 package that weighed only 120, if that. And the thing is, she isn't one of those tooth pick girls who have no curves, that was one of the things I loved about her, especially since she didn't flaunt it like some girls I know do, _cough_ Cassidy _cough._

And she was the sweetest thing I knew; even after all she had been through. I realized something right there. My mom was wrong. I didn't like her. I _loved _her. Thing is, she _hated _me. I leaned down and lightly brushed my lips against her forehead. "Sleep, Pay. You deserve it, sweet." I said quietly before I quietly left the room, closing the door softly behind me.


	5. Chapter 5

**PPOV:** A.N. From now on, if it doesn't say otherwise, it is automatically Payton's.

"Payton." Someone shook me. "Payton." I groaned. "Payton!"

"What!" I yelled jerking upright in bed. In case you didn't notice, I don't like being woken up...

"Hi!" Ashton yelled. Ashton was my youngest brother, he was five. Some days, he loved me, others he _hated _me.

"Ash, Sweetie? What have we said about waking Pay up in the morning?" I asked in a sweet voice.

"Uhhh..." He thought. I didn't have time.

"We said it was a no-no. Remember?" He nodded.

"Sorry." He seemed ashamed.

I swung my legs over the bed and pulled him onto my lap, "It's okay buddy." I kissed the top of his head.

"Ash! Come on! We are going to the beach!" Miley, a nine-year-old, poked her head into the door. Ash jumped off my lap and ran out after her.

I stood up and looked at the clock. It was noon. God, I had slept a long time. I had had the weirdest dream. For some reason I had told Shane about the first Ash... But it was just a dream. I would never tell Shane that...

I walked over to the closet, where I had hung a few bathing suits and shorts, but I left the majority of my cloths upstairs in my parent's room. I pulled out a set and ran into the bathroom to change. I came out five minutes later, I had brushed my teeth and put contacts in and everything, soooo...I don't take _to_ long changing. I was wearing a bikini top that had a black background but had a bunch of colorful splashes that I think are skulls and a pair of black, short, swim shorts. I grabbed my tote bag that had a cure alien dude on it, my black sunglasses and slid on white flip-flops.

I walked out into the main room. I was debating whether or not to go get breakfast or lunch or whatever, or not... I wasn't really that hungry. I was drawn out of my debate by a voice. And it wasn't exactly the voice I wanted to hear...

"Hey Payton." He called from across the room, "Come here."

I rolled my eyes and walked over to him. "What Shane?" I said, hoping I sounded annoyed, 'cause I was.

"God. So mean." He paused, "I wanted to know if you were alright? After earlier, you know?" He was looking at me weird.

"What do you mean earlier?" Earlier I had been asleep, how much earlier do you want to go.

"I mean when you...never mind. I was going to head down to the beach, you want to come?" He asked.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why what?"

"Why did you ask me if I wanted to come?" He _never_ did that. He usually asked if I was going to the pool or beach and then went to the other one just to be away from me...

"'Cause, I thought if you were heading down, we might as well go down together..." Hm. What prank did he have set up?

"Sure." I said slowly.

So together we set off, grabbing towels from where they were hanging on the railing of the porch. He was quiet until we reached the cabana. Where he grabbed my arm and pulled me over to the side. I noticed almost everything was gone, which meant everyone was down at the beach.

"Listen. You told me about Ashlyn. You told me about how she died and how you loved her. I just want to know if you remember or not, because if you don't we may have a problem." _What?_ That was a dream. _No it wasn't_. A voice in my head said. I pressed rewind in my head and went back to that dream. It was _too_ clear, _too_ real. _Because it wasn't a dream._ The voice spoke up again.

"That wasn't a dream was it?" I asked. He shook his head. _That_ was why he was being nice to me. He pitied me. I hated when people pity me, no matter what the pity was for. We were quiet. I knew he was still holding onto my arm, but I didn't mind, in fact I kinda liked it, _Payton. Stop thinking that. You hate him. Remember? _"Listen. That was all true. And it was _horrible,_ but I don't want your pity. So stop pretending to be nice to me. Forget I told you."

He pushed me against a wood pillar that was right behind me. He was _so_ close; I could smell him (and he smelt pretty good). "You think I am _pretending _to be nice to you? You think I _pity_ you?" He pretty much growled, but I wasn't focused on that. I focused on the fact I could feel his breath on my lips, and those lips looked really nice at the moment. "Do you?" He growled, pulling my arm, which he still hadn't let go of yet, a bit. I nodded.

I took a breath. "I don't pity you. I feel sorry for you. There is a difference. I'm sorry about your sister and neighbor and I'm sorry you had to go through that at such a young age. And I'm not pretending to be nice. I was wrong. I should hate you because 'I just do'." He pulled away from me and I felt an absence immediately. Then he ran down the stairs.

I waited a moment before I went down. For some reason my breathing had sped up during our 'conversation'... When I did get down to the beach, everyone, except like three moms, was out in the ocean jumping and riding these awesome waves.

I ran across the beach to the water, running partially from excitement, partially because the sand was hot. When I got there, I slowly waded out to everyone else. I swam/walked over to Claire and the other girls. They were just laughing and jumping over the waves. It was kind of funny how little Claire who was only five feet suddenly becomes like seven feet and then back to five.

We kept going, just laughing and jumping for a while, until this huge wave came. It was _huge_, and that is an understatement. Sure it wasn't a tsunami, but it was probably five feet taller than me... Everyone made it over, but me. In fact it crashed right on top of me. I got a lung full of seawater. I swam towards the surface and as soon as I reached it, another wave hit me. The second wave had a strong undertow, and even though I was a strong swimmer, I couldn't fight it. I was flipping and twisting I ways I didn't know were possible. I kept my eyes closed; it was enough pain to have my back scrape against the bottom, but to have salt water in my eyes? No thanks. My lungs were on fire, I was blacking out. I couldn't feel anything. And I was going... going... air.

Some how, some way, I broke the surface. I gulped in fresh air. Eventually I started to get feeling back. I didn't open my eyes. I was kind of afraid of what I would see. I don't know why, but I was. I became aware that I was being carried and that the water was getting lower and lower. I was being carried out of the water.

I had my legs on either side of the person's hips, my arms by my sides, and my head on his shoulder. Their arms were wrapped under my butt, holding me up, but not feeling me up or anything, just keeping me up.

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright." The guy said. I was starting to black out again. This time, I felt safe.

**A.N.** This is the link to Payton's bathing suit outfit, if you want to check it out...

.com/cgi/profile?id=1802997


	6. Chapter 6

**SPOV:**

_ 'I don't pity you. I feel sorry for you. There is a difference. I'm sorry about your sister and neighbor and I'm sorry you had to go through that at such a young age. And I'm not pretending to be nice. I was wrong. I shouldn't hate you because 'I just do'.'_

My words kept running through my head. What had I done? She probably hated me now. I had _pushed_ her against a _pole_. And on top of that, I admitted I didn't hate her. Would she figure it out? Will she figure out if I _love_ her? What if she already knew.

She had come down a bit ago, and I had been watching her out of the corner of my eye, no one saw of course. It was fun to watch her on the waves. She would suddenly get _really_ tall, and then back to her height. I loved to hear her laugh and see her carefree smile. It wasn't often I saw that smile, usually it was happy, but not carefree.

This _huge_ wave came. I jumped it and then the one right after it. When I looked around for Payton, she was no where. I waded over to where she had been with the other girls. On my way over, I thought I felt flesh hit me under the water. I have always been curious so I plunged in and grabbed onto the thing.

It was a body. A body that I would recognize _anywhere_. _Payton._ I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her up to the surface. I held her like a young child above the water. The water was at her waist, and I continued to walk out of the water. I was aware of everyone watching me, and Payton.

I was aware of her breathing, that was a good sign. She had opened her eyes, but closed them right after, when I brought her to the surface.

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright." I said. I knew I was losing her again, but I wasn't going to let that happen.

She probably had a bunch of water in her lungs, and I read somewhere if there is water in your lungs and you fall asleep, you could drown, even out of the water. This was the first time I was thankful for that red cross course the school made us take. So I started doing CPR. I was aware of our entire group watching... some of the younger kids just ran off to go play and some of the adults went with them since they went towards the water.

I wouldn't let her die. She _couldn't_ die. And she couldn't die just for me, but also for her family. The Grace's had already lost one daughter, and I wouldn't let them lose another, especially one who looked exactly like the first.

I took almost 10 sets, but she gasped. You know how in the movies, the girls drown and are on the verge of death, and then the heroic male love interest comes in, gives her mouth to mouth, she gasps and comes back to life and they kiss, and the live happily ever after. Well that didn't happen, she gasped, coughed a little, then screamed and kicked me, hard, right in the tenders.

I rolled off of her groaning, and clutching my...tenders. "What the hell Payton! I save you and...ugh." I yelled out.

"Oh my god Shane!" She bolted up and leaned over me. "I...I saw her...I know it sounds stupid, but I swear I saw Ashlyn. And then her death came back to me, and you were...you know... so..." She rushed, "Reflex?" She asked.

I couldn't help but laugh a little, even though I was still in pain. In the distance I was aware of Payton's little brothers pulling their parents away to go do stuff on the beach. The parents followed their sons, leaving the daughters. I couldn't help but think how this family just lets death go and forgets about it completely.

"Soooo...are you okay?" She asked, looking me in the eyes.

"I don't know? What do you think?" I asked her sarcastically. The crowed was dispersing.

"Oh. Well... Is there anything I can do?" She asked, her cheeks red.

I wanted to say something like 'Hell, yeah.' Because she really could. But instead, I was a good little boy and just said, "No, I'm fine. I'm going to go up to the house, and put some ice on that." I stood up and started to walk away, I turned back around. She was still where I left her. "God you have good aim." I took another step, "And good aim." She laughed.


	7. Chapter 7

"Payton? Want to go have chicken fights?" Ruth yelled into the room.

Since the whole 'wave jumping incedent' I had stayed inside in my room and messed around on my laptop.

"We're talking chicken fights in the pool right?"

"Yep."

"'kay. I'll be down in a minute." I called back. She left. I shut my computer down and went to put my hair up in a bun, this way no one could pull it.

For those of you who don't know, Chicken Fights, at least that's what we call them, are when one person gets up on another's shoulders and tries to push an opponent who is on another person's shoulders off. The bottom people also fight. It can get nasty in this house, since all of us are so competitive. Just look at the parent's poker games! I used to be partnered up with James Goode for when we played at home, but his family didn't come since his brother is looking at colleges.

I threw on another bathing suit since I had changed out of mine. It was just a simple bikini, the only thing that set it apart from others and made it stand out, was it's color. It was the perfect shade of blue, and with the help of my dark lashes, it made my eyes pop, like more than usual.

I practically ran down to the pool since the ground was hot and I forgot flip flops, but whatever.

"Payton! You're my partner." Shane called.

"'kay. Just don't let me drown." I joked. I noticed he tensed, but then he relaxed.

It made sense, my partner wasn't her and neither was his since he usually paired with Colleen, James's sister.

"We're doing a tournament." Griffin said coming up to us. "And you two are playing Lena and I in the second first round. But there is a game before us."

"Who's before us?" I asked.

"Cole and Claire against Joe and Thalie." He said then turned to the pool area on whole, "Palmer and Flynn kids, report to pool. You guys are up first."

This round really wasn't that interesting after all the two top players didn't want to fight, Claire because she is so sweet and Natalia because she 'didn't want to break a nail'. I'm not sure if I said this before, but Natalia is a bit of a slut, nice girl and all, but a bit of a slut. To her appereance is everything. That is probably the reason she doesn't like me too much. See, the first time I met her, I had just had a feild hockey game, so I wasn't really sweaty, but you could tell I was a bit, and my hair was screwed up and I was still in uniform... but that's a story for another day.

Anyway, Cole and Claire won, because Cole kept pushing until Joe ended up in the deep end and fell. So they won and moved onto the next round. Now it was my turn.

I climbed, well descended, but you know what I mean, into the pool. When the water was around my waist, fear coursed through me, but I ignored it and mounted Shane's shoulders.

I'm going to tell you something about myself. Do I have fears, yes. Do I let them keep me from living, no. So even though, I was completely freaked out from earlier when I nearly drowned, I faced my fear. That's what I do, I face fears.

Lena and I locked hands and started trying to push each other off. We were about the same size, so it wasn't easy. She hated to lose, which gave her the extra boost. And she was starting to win, but Shane was winning against Griffin, so it was a tie.

"Pay. Cause a distraction." Shane said quietly, I'm not sure if I heard him right, but whatever...

I looked around the pool, no parents. Perfect. "Hey, Griffin." I said, he looked up, but kept fighting. So I hooked my finger in the front of my bikini top. I pulled on it a little, but just enough to see the white part of my boob, where it didn't tan. That was enough though. He froze and Shane over powered him. We won. I felt kind of dirty, but we won, and it was among friends, so I let it go. Plus I didn't really do anything.

We waited through the rest of the games. Now we were against the Palmers. That game was over quick. Claire was just to sweet. And if you haven't figured it out, I play to win. When I was younger, that meant using brute force, now it is strategy... So yes, it seemed as though I was losing at first, but I was just waiting for her to let her guard down and think she was about to win, then I turned on the brute force that I still know how to use and shoved her off her brother. We won.

Now we just had to wait for two more games then we play for the championship.

Jake and Thalia Bowden overpowered Annie and Emily. But in turn the two Bowden's were overpowered by Ruth and Kelsey Hunter. That meant we were up. Shane and I against Ruth and Kelsey. Great.

Ruth was crazy aggressive, then again her brother could be when he wants too as well, but he knows how to turn it off, she doesn't. Kelsey was obsessed with winning. Her whole family was.

Story time! One time Mrs. Hunter was saying how amazing she was at volleyball and how she led her high school team to regional's. Sure they were out in the second round, but whatever. She was saying all this to my mom, who would just nod and smile. But I saw the smirk. My mom had done the same for her team. The difference? My mom got on the team out of a pool of over five thousand students and Mrs. Hunter was out of like five hundred if that. But whatever. Oh. And my mom went on to nationals, but whatever. Who was keeping track.

Okay. On with the chicken fights. Once again I found myself in the water. Shane swam between my legs and stood up, me on his shoulders. And the fight began. This one was probably the longest fight. The lead kept going to the other team. No one could stay in front. Then Ruth, got smart, or stupid, depending on how you look at it. She went to punch her brother, who hit her hand. However, Ruth's punch, origanally aimed at his chest, hit him in the nose. His head slammed back, right between my legs.

For any girl who hasn't experienced a crotch shot, it still hurts, even though we aren't guy. And Shane had a hard head. I fell backwards, but I kept my legs wrapped under Shane's shoulders. I had done gymnastics for almost ten years, so I was flexible and had good muscles, plus I did a bunch of different types of dance, so I was really flexible.

I waited for the pain to subside and then I got mad. Scratch that. I wasn't mad. I was pissed. I sat back up. And now I just used brute strength like Ruth was doing. Ruth relied on her large size. I was tall and skinny, but not beanpole skinny, and I used muscle, strength and strategy. Which let me tell you, in all cases, if you had to pick between a stupid brute and a smart strong person, go with the stupid one. They punch blindly, sure the hits hurt more, but the smart person, would go for pressure points and sensitive spots.

So while Ruth was punching Shane's rock hard chest, I started to hit pressure points on Kelsey. How did I know a ton of pressure points? I'm a nerd okay. I know this type of useless information. Anyway. I his a bunch, including one on the back of her neck which made her crumple up and fall over off Ruth.

"And we win. Thank you very much." I yelled to the crowd. Everyone cheered and laughed, except for Ruth and Kelsey.

I looked down and Shane. He was looking up at me and I met his eyes. He was smiling at me and I smiled back.

"Ready?" He asked.

"For what?" I asked back.

"This." He smirked.

He unwrapped my legs and stood me on his shoulders. I complied and made it easy for him. He walked over to where it starts getting deep. Held out his arms. I looked at him uncertain. I weighed like 120 lbs. there was no way he could lift me.

"Go ahead." I did as he wanted. He lifted me above his head, by feet on his hands. He bent his arms and then shot them up. I went flying into the deep end.

I who wasn't ready got a bunch of water up my nose, but not in my lungs. I was pretty goo with staying under water for a while, so I figured I would freak him out. So I stayed under.

It took him less than ten seconds to dive in after me. He didn't see me, since I swam behind him. My bathing suit matched the lining perfectly... I guess that helped a bit. I swan up to him. I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck.

He turned around in my arms (and legs) so he was now facing me. His face went from worried to relieved to annoyed to playful. He wrapped one of his arms around my lower back. With the other he reached up and with one of his fingers, he touched my eyelid, and moved his finger down, I slid it shut. Out of my other eye, he nodded. I closed the other.

I felt us move up, then out of the water. He swam and then I was on the pavement/patio, whatever. I heard him climb out after me. We had only been underwater for less than a minute, but it seemed longer.

"Really Shane! Twice! Now it's your fault!" Cassidy yelled at him.

"Calm down! I saved her once, I can do it again." And with that he pressed his lips to mine.


	8. Chapter 8

SPOV:

What the hell did I do! It was later in the afternoon now. She had went along with it, and pretended to really be being saved, and since she was big into drama, it was pretty convincing. As soon as she opened her eyes, I nodded, stood and all but ran out of that pool area. So now, here I was, at four in the afternoon in my room, hiding from this girl who not even three days ago, I hated.

PPOV:

Did that really happen? I replayed it in my mind. It had to, didn't it? He told me to close my eyes. Or did I imagine that. Maybe I really did start to drown and he really did save me and the rest was a hallucination. That was possible, right? Well, I had no idea where he was, so I couldn't ask him about it.

We were all hanging out in the pool table room now. Everyone but Shane. I was sitting in a chair that was in the corner and out of the way. I had my knees curled up and my chin rested on them. I was still in my bikini, but it was dry. I had been watching Griffin and Kelsey play water pong for a while and had spaced out. And a certain fifteen year old occupied my mind...

Did he like me? Did he like me as a friend or more? Or does he still hate me? Did he ever think of me? Or am I the only one who thinks of him? Why do I care? Why do I keep thinking about him?

All very good questions. None of which I had an answer to. I mean he had pretty much disappeared after he 'saved' (or maybe really saved) me. Does that mean he doesn't like me or... I got nothing. UGH! Being a teenage girl is soooo hard.

"Kids. Go get dressed. We are going to dinner." Mrs. Hampton said from the archway. She was sort of in charge of this vacation.

"Mom. We have over forty people, going out for dinner will be crazy." Griffin said, "DAMN!" His distraction had allowed Kelsey to bounce a ping pong ball into one of the cups so he had to remove two, which he wasn't happy about.

"Griffin! Language!" She scolded her oldest child. "We are leaving in an hour. Get ready. We rented a room at some place and are receiving an all-you-can-eat buffet. It's pretty fancy so wear your best cloths."

They guys were out as soon as she said all you can eat. Us girls walked to our rooms quickly, but a lot slower than the boys. No one really brought fancy cloths. We're at a beach house! What is she thinking! I was lucky though, since my grandpa owns a business and my mom helps run it, we were planning on lunch with a costumer. So I had brought a nice dress, so I was all set. But should I wear it if no one else was dressing up.

Ruth and I went into our room to look through out cloths which we had moved down from our parent's room for convenience. I had no idea what I was going to wear.

"Payton, can I talk to you for a minute." Cassidy called from her room.

Her, Natalia and Ella shared a room that shared a bathroom with us. We usually left the doors open so we could just yell and the other room would hear.

"Sure." I said walking into her room. She was the only one in there, usually the other girls would be here, trying to look hot for the guys, but they were no where to be seen.

"Sit down." She pointed to the bed. I did as I was told. She shut the doors. Uh-Oh. In case I haven't told you, Cassidy and I, we aren't on the best terms. She is one of those popular sluts who need to be in control all the time. I'm one of those girls that aren't a slut, but isn't a goodie goodie and like to have things going according to a plan, particularly, mine. So we don't mash well.

"I know about you and Shane." She said sitting beside me.

"What? Nothing is going on between me and Shane." She raised an eyebrow. "Fine. I have no idea what is going on between Shane and I, happy?"

"Ecstatic. Do you want me to tell you what is going on between the two of you?" She asked, in and odd voice, if I can add that.

"Not really, but I'm sure you're going to tell me..." She stood and started to walk slowly back and forth in front of me.

After a bit of this she stopped, faced me and said, "You like him and he likes you. however you are both to pigheaded to admit it." She said. I held in a laugh. It was true, we were both pigheaded, but we didn't like each other. She walked over to her dresser and rummaged around. She pulled out a little clutch. "But, by the end of tonight, he will be ready to admit he loves you." Then she pulled out the scariest thing I ever saw. Eyeliner. There had to be more where that came from.

"My mom told me the resturant is really fancy. Also, she told everyone's parents before hand that she thought we should try it one night, so all the parents brought their kids dresses/suits... So let's see what you got." She pointed out the door.

"Actually it is in my room. My parents might go on a business lunch, and I might need to go sooo..." I trailed off at the look on her face.

"Ok. Just go put it on." She said.

SPOV:

"Dude? What have you been doing all this time?" Griffin asked running into our room.

"Nothing. What's go you so excited?"

"Four words. All you can eat. We are going out to a fancy restaurant, for a freaking all you can eat buffet." He ran over to our closet and started to pull out cloths. Then he ran into the bathroom. I rolled my eyes and trudged upstairs to the second floor.

"Mom! Did you bring me cloths for dinner?" I yelled through out the house.

"Yeah. I laid them out upstairs on the bed. Go get changed." I trudged up another flight of stairs.

My mom packed me a suit. Ugh! I quickly changed. I walked into the bathroom and looked at my reflection. I looked stupid. My shirt was tucked in and my jacket was all perfect. Ugh. I looked like a dork.

Whatever. Only one night. I proceeded to walk back down stairs. I flopped back down onto the bed and turned on the TV. Some talk shoe was on... whatever.

PPOV:

"Good?" I asked walking back into Cassidy's room. Ruth had gone upstairs to find her cloths, but I still changed in the bath room.

"Damn girl! Look at yourself." She shoved me infront of her full length mirror. I admit I do look hot.

I usually don't dress up, but every once in a while, every girl likes to play dress up. I don't know where I got the dress from, but I loved it. It was a plain white strapless dressed that stopped high, but not slutty high. I accompanied it with white, crazy high (more than five inches) stiletto heals and a white clutch that had a flower on one side.

(A.N. If you need better detail, check it out. .com/paytons_dinnerwear/set?id=22068320)

"Now, makeup time." She said, handing me the eyeliner.

"Cassidy. I don't do makeup." I said, accenting the do.

"You don't do, or you can't do." She asked. Apparently my face answered for me because a second later she said, "I thought so. Sit down."

It took her almost a half hour to finish with the make up. We only had like ten minutes until we left. And honestly, I could tell I was wearing make-up.

"I decided to make it look natural..." She said as she slid into her dress which stood out a lot more than mine.

It was a bright red and was a halter. It stopped a little higher than mine, but enough that it looked slutty. She slid on a pair or red heals, that were a little shorter than mine (it's hard to find ones that weren't). She walked over to her dresser and put some stuff in her black clutch.

(Here's Cassidy's outfit. .com/cassidys_dinnerwear/set?id=22069201)

"Ready Pay?" She asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." And with that we walked out of the room and into our main room. Almost everyone else was there. Well everyone was there except, you guessed it, Shane.

"Hey Griffin. Where's Shane?" I asked the guy.

"Sulking in our room. He thinks he looks dorky."

"Thank you." I said, short and sweet.

I walked down the hall that led to the guys room and rapped on the door three times.

"Come in." He seemed to groan.

I walked in. "Up. Now." I commanded. He was lying on his bed, his legs dangling over, staring at the ceiling.

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"For me."

This time he hesitated, looking me over. "No."

"Fine." I turned and closed the door. I kicked off my heals and lay next to him. I propped myself up on my arm, "What's wrong?"

"I look like a dork."

I looked him over. "You do. Stand up." He only met my eyes. I sent him a glare and he moved faster then I thought possible.

I stood up too. I pulled off his jacket. I unbuttoned the buttons on the cuffs and rolled the sleeves up. I un-tucked his shirt a bit, but not all the way. I cocked my head to the side. I stood up on the bed and nudged his shoulders so he would face me. I ruffled his hair a bit so it was messily sexy.

"There." I said, guiding him to the mirror. "Better?"

He just stared at the reflection, but I noticed he wasn't looking at himself when he said, "It's perfect." He was looking at me.

"Shane about earlier..."

He cut me off. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"Listen, I'm not mad. But I think we took it a little fast." I paused letting it sink in, "Can we maybe just start over?" I looked up at him through my lashes.

"I guess so." He looked down at me. "Hey. I'm Shane Ford." He held out his hand.

"Payton Grace." I shook his hand.

He grinned and I grinned back. He pulled me into a hug, wrapping his arms around my waist. I reached up and put my hands on his shoulder.

"Go put your heels on so you could reach me, shorty." He smirked. I did as I was told and came back to hug him. "That's better." This time I could actually reach my arms around his neck. With an extra five inches, I was still a little shorter than him, but not by much.

"Let's go everyone!" A parent called, not sure which one, but it was a mom.

"Ready?" Shane asked.

"I guess."

"I think Ruth is riding with your family, so I think your riding with us."

"Thank the lord."

"Is that 'cause you get to ride with me, or because you don't have to squeeze into a care with your two brothers."

"Little of both." I answered. I kissed him on the cheek and then ran (well sort of since the heels) out of the room and over out the door.


	9. Chapter 9

We had gotten to the restaurant really easy. It really wasn't an interesting ride... I did end up switching places with Ruth so I drove with Shane. The restaurant was pretty fancy. It had beautiful crystal chandeliers, glossy dark wood floors, elegant white walls, circular tables with cream colored table cloths and comfy chairs. In our room that we rented their was a DJ stand and a dance floor.

"Well, we'll see you kids later." Mrs. Ford said coming over to Shane and kissing his forehead, which she could only reach in heals.

"Where are you going?" Shane asked. I nodded in agreement. I was holding Shane's arm, because let's face it, these heals suck. I wasn't exactly clinging to him so I wouldn't fall over, I was just pulling myself up a bit so it didn't hurt my feet so much. Once I started moving again, they won't hurt anymore, they only hurt when I'm standing still.

"We got two rooms. This one is for you kids, the other one is for the adults, and I think Miley, Colton and Troy are going with their parents..." She frowned, but then smiled again, "The walls are soundproof, so you can play any music you want, but keep it down. The food is over on there it is already served, just take the tops off." And with that she left with the other parents, closing the doors behind them.

There were five tables that were set for four and against a wall their was a buffet. Of course, there would need to be more tables for adults.

"We are going to attempt to keep it sort of classy this evening..." Griffin was saying into a mic up by the DJ booth, "So we are going to do a dance contests before food and karaoke after." He stood behind the DJ booth. "First off, Kelsey, you wanted to do a tango thing right." The girl in questing bounced up to the stand.

She was in a simple black sleeveless dress. The only decoration on the dress was a little black belt around the waist with a silver buckle. She had on little kid peep toe heels, that gave her an extra inch or so.

Suddenly the room was filled with a tango-ish type music. I recognized it from somewhere but I didn't know where.

"Would you like to dance?" Shane asked me.

"Well, considering my feet are killing me just standing and you are my support, I guess I have to." I smirked. He smirked back. What is with all the smirking?

He led me to the dance floor where a bunch of others were already dancing. I had to admit we were pretty good, better than the others at least. The song ended quickly and Griffin put on another song. Of course this one wasn't as innocent.

"Apple bottom jeans. Boots with the fur..." we all sang along while dancing. I sware if the parents saw a dancing, we would be grounded for months on end, but the parents weren't there so we were safe.

Shane and I danced for all of the songs which included, 'Low', 'In The Ayer', 'Break Your Heart', 'Boom Boom Pow' and a bunch of others. I was aware of the fact all of us were dancing except Ruth and the kids younger than her. They were all sitting at a table, having brought over extra chairs and playing with some cards that I think were Pokémon cards. I shrugged it off.

After about half an hour of dancing, we all started to go get food. I sat at a table with Shane, Griffin and Natalia. It was kind of weird since I was the youngest, but I got through it. Natalia and Griffin were in the middle of a conversation when our wonderful friend Joseph came on the mic.

"Well, now that everyone is done, it is time for karaoke." While he said this he was looking right at me. "Do I have any volunteers?" Still looking straight at me.

"Do I have a choice?" I asked.

"Nope. Little miss drama club." I'm not sure how it is at other schools, but our school, if you are in drama club, you are an amazing singer.

"Whatever. What song?" I asked sliding my shoes back on and walking over to him. He was looking at a little screen that had a bunch of titles on it. I scrolled down the list.

Here's something you should know about me, I'm not good with all these rap songs and all that stuff. So I didn't know half of the songs there.

He pointed to a song. "Please?" He asked looking at me.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

We argued for a bit before I finally gave in. "I hate you." I took the mic from him.

The music started and I completely forgot about the aduience and just did my thing. See? Being an actress does help preforming.

"Blah, blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah." I sang. And I lauched into Blah Blah Blah by Ke$ha.

I danced around a bit too. I was aware all the guys were watching me and all the girls were watching them, but I pushed it too the back of my mind. Soon the song finished. I walked over to the DJ booth and handed Joe the mic.

"Your turn." For this song I turned on the machine that showed the lyrics.

"No way. You had a decent song!" He complained.

"Too bad! Sing!" It was some Jonas Brother song.

I had to admit, he was a pretty good singer, thing was, he was glaring at me the entire time. He finished and as soon as he was done, he sat back down. Looks like I'm in charge.

In the next hour everyone ended up singing at least one song. At the end of the fifth song, Mrs. Hampton came and said something to Griffin that I didn't hear. She handed him something and then left. Griffin then walked over to Shane, Cole and Joe and handed them something each. Keys. Great they were driving us home.

They had gotten their licenses last winter...and apparently they could drive us home... great...

We were just about to go home when Cassidy came up to the booth.

"Now to close things off, we are going to have little miss drama perform another song." She said and she started the music.

I recognized this song from Glee. It was home. I loved it, it was pretty and in my range.

So I sung the song.

"When I think of home

I think of a place where there's love overflowing

I wish I was home

I wish I was back there

With the things I've been knowing

Wind that makes the tall grass bend into leaning

Suddenly the raindrops that fall have a meaning

Sprinklin' the scene, makes it all clean

Maybe there's a chance for me to go back

Now that I have some direction

It sure would be nice to be back home

Where there's love and affection

And just maybe I can convince time to slow up

Giving me enough time in my life to grow up

Time be my friend, let me start again

Suddenly my world has gone and changed its face

But I still know where I'm going

I have had my mind spun around in space

Yet I've watched it glowing

If you're listening God

Please don't make it hard to know

If we should believe in the things that we see

Tell us, should we try and stay

Or should we run away?

Or would it be better just to let things be?

Living here, in this brand new world

Might be a fantasy, oh...

But it taught me to love

So it's real, real, real to me

And I've learned

That we must look, look inside our hearts

To find a world full of love

Like yours, like mine

Like home... Home."

When I stop the last note, which was freakishly high, everyone just stared at me. It was a 'holy crap' stare. I just smiled and walked back to my seat to grab my purse, then I walked over to the door.

"So you guys coming?" I asked.

In five minutes we were all outside by the four pick up truck's we had been left; one from the Palmer's, one from the Ford's, one from the Hunter's and one from the Wilson's. Apparently the parent's just rode with others.

It took us a bit to figure out who would be going with who, but I ended up with Shane, Ruth, Colton, and Audrey. Since I was the second oldest, I got to ride shot gun, which was a relief.

We were just leaving Corolla when my phone rang. I picked it up.

"Hey, Pay, tell Shane to pull into that ice cream place a block away." It was Cassidy. She was riding with her brother.

"Got cha." I did as I was told. And the other trucks followed.

We all poured out of the truck and into the ice cream place. It was pretty funny to watch the lady's face when twenty teenagers poured into her little shop.

It took ten to twenty minutes to order. I paid for Colton and mine, with the fifty I always carry around when we go out; I got back almost all of it, after all the ice creams were less than five dollars together.

Eventually we were all sitting in the booths. I was next to Shane and Griffin. Once again Natalia sat with us. Shane had long since finished his ice cream, so had Griffin, so they were talking. I noticed how Griffin kept glancing at Natalia.

I leaned a bit more into Shane and whispered, "Is something going on there?"

He looked at me like I was crazy then he laughed, "What?" Griffin asked seeing his best friend's face.

"She asked if something was going on between the two of you." Now Griffin started to laugh along.

"We've been dating for a little over a year." Natalia said with a little smile.

"Ohhh... I knew that." I said with a little smile. She laughed at that. The two boys got up to go annoy Cole and Joe; the four of them were all best friends.

"My turn now. Is there something going on between the two of you?" She asked me.

"I don't know. We are just trying to not hate each other." I half lied.

"Sure..." She didn't believe it, "Just don't hurt him. He's a nice guy and he's been hurt before. He sulked around our house for weeks."

"Why your house?" I asked.

"Joe lives there. Griffin comes to see me and hang out with Joe... Cole comes by a lot to hang out with Joe since Cole lives down the street... so all his friends were there." It made sense.

"Make sense." Then I saw him. Shit shit shit shit shit. Was all I could think as I saw him walk in.

I hadn't seen him in almost ten years, but I would recognize him anywhere after what he did to Ashlyn.

SPOV:

Griffin and I had walked away from our girls to hang out with the guys. We were laughing when he walked in. As soon as I saw him I didn't like the look of him. He had dark hair and eyes. His skin was dark too. He seemed to be missing a tooth and he had an earring. He was wearing gangster cloths. All and all, I wanted him away from everyone.

"Griff. We are leaving now." I said, my eyes not leaving the man. Then he turned his head slightly.

His face lit up with surprise. He was looking straight at Payton. "You?" This can't be good, "Didn't I kill you?" He was walking over to her now.

"No." She responded in an ice cold voice. I knew who this was before she said anything else, "You killed my sister."


	10. Chapter 10

"No." I responded, using as much venom in my voice as I could, "You killed my sister."

"Ahhh... yes. You saw the entire thing too, didn't you? That's what they said in the papers. 'Ashlyn Jane Grace, 8, raped than killed... neighbor also killed, younger sister, Payton Chloe Grace, 5, was in the other room of apartment and watched entire event, helpless...' It said you had a younger brother which must be him..." He pointed to Caden.

"Stay away from him." I growled standing. Thing with me, you can mess with me, well, only if you want to die, but when you mess with my family and friends well, you're even deader.

The man turned towards me and said, "Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry. Stay the fuck away from him." I growled through my teeth.

"One more chance..." He held up his shirt to show me his belt...that had a knife on it. The knife that killed my sister.

I glanced over at Shane. I had an idea. He nodded. I leaned into the man, "You know, I can give you everything my sister gave you and more... after all, she was only 8 and I'm 14... think about it..."

"That does sound good." he placed his hands on my waist. I almost threw up, but I didn't. See acting does help!

I put one arm around his neck and one on his waist. I slid one finger into his pants, right next to the knife. He leaned in to kiss my neck, but before he could, I had his knife in one hand and Shane had the man in a headlock, Griffin, Cole and Joe were standing nearby to assist if needed. I heard someone on the phone, but I was staring at the knife in my hands. There was dried blood on the knife... that couldn't be from my sister could it.

"So you see the blood." The man said, his voice was struggled since Shane was cutting off his airflow, "That's your sister's it's my prize. In and out of a building with the heaviest security offered. Taking two lives with me." I stared at the knife. I handed it to Cassidy.

"Shane let him go." I said. I was just letting instinct and adrenaline take over.

"See the sweet girl knows what's good for her." He walked over to me.

"I'm sorry my friends were soooo rude to you." I said, batting my eyelashes. I placed my hands on his shoulders.

"Prove it."

"Okay. Pucker up." The man got not one, but four knees to the balls. He crumpled to the ground.

Great thing about these heals is if you can balance on one, the make amazing weapons. I pressed one heal to his neck.

"You picked the wrong girl to scar." I dug my heal in a little more.

"Freeze. Wow." A bunch of policemen came running into the ice cream shop. They lowered their weapons when they saw me keeping him down.

"I have three older football playing cousins... one got a scholarship and everything... you learn how to fight."

"This man has been wanted for almost a decade for a murder..."

"Of a young girl. I know. I'm Payton Grace, Ashlyn's younger sister. I was the one who saw everything."

"Yes. Okay. Jim, get him in the car, I want him in a cell by morning." The policeman said.

He walked over to Griffin, who was obviously the oldest, and asked him a bunch of questions. The entire time I stared at the spot where the man had just been. Eventually, He thanked us and then left with his back up and the bastard. I just stood there. I was frozen, all the adrenaline had left my blood and I was amazed at what I had just done. I couldn't have done that. I felt an arm wrap around me.

Shane whispered, "Don't worry. You're safe now. He's gone. You've avenged your sister."

I fell back into his arms, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, I didn't faint. I simply leaned back in his arms. He wrapped his arms all the way around my waist, with his hands on my stomach.

"Do you want to go home now?" He whispered into my ear.

"Yeah." I whispered back.

"Okay." He turned me around in his arms and lifted me up to cradle me in his arms, with one behind my back and the other under my knees. "We're leaving... who's coming?"

Everyone ended up coming home, everyone in the same cars as earlier. When we got home all of the parents were on the porch waiting for us. As soon as we turned in they started pouring down the stairs.

They all hugged us, but I was still in Shane's arm and I refused to get down. So both our parents attempted to hug us, but it didn't really work out.

"Mom? Who's Ashlyn?" Colton asked mom. Uh-Oh.

She looked to me, "The police just said a man came and held you all with a knife, how does he know about Ashlyn."

"The man was Ashlyn's killer." I said, my forehead pressed against the soft skin of Shane's neck.

My mom froze; my dad was too far away to hear. "Everyone inside. There is something we need to tell you."

"Mrs. Grace, I am sorry for your loss, but do you mind if I stay downstairs with Payton. I don't think she can take it, she already told me the story though." Shane spoke.

"That is fine. Thank you for looking after her, Shane." With that I climbed up to the deck and into the bottom floor. I brought her into her room and lay her on the bed.

"I'm going to go get changed, you do the same. I will be right back."

He left the room and I stood up.

I changed into pajamas quickly. A simple pair of Gilly Hicks boxers and a lacy white spaghetti strap top... I laid back down and turned on the TV. A moment later, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." I called. The door opened and in walked Shane. He was in a tight fitting white shirt that that showed off his muscles and a pair of dark pajama pants. He came and sat next to me on the bed. He wrapped his arms around me and lay us down.

That night I fell asleep in Shane's arms.


	11. Chapter 11

A.N. I am so sorry! I thought I posted this days ago, apparently I didn't. My computer is like freakishly organized, so I usually have everything in the place I need it to be, but I accidentally saved this to the 'Documents' file instead of the 'Roommate's Brother' folder!

SPOV:

I'm telling you, this girl and her family have to be super human or something, because the next morning, they were the only ones who slept at all, and the only ones who seemed completely unaffected. I have to admit, I was getting along fine, but I was still a little freaked, I mean the guy who raped and killed an eight year old had showed up in the middle of no where and tried to kill the girls little sister.

Anyway... it was already noon now. Everyone slept in really late today since we stayed out late and then there was the little scare, so everyone was pretty tired, except the Grace's of course.

"So what do you want to do today?" I asked Payton as I took a chair from her.

"I don't know. If the water's nice maybe just jump waves or something. And if it isn't we can play volley ball or something, I know Griffin has been dying to play..."

"You amaze me."

"Why? Because I want to play volleyball?" She looked at me confused.

We were halfway down the stairs now, we didn't stop since everyone was heading down to the beach and these stairs were narrow and steep... you do the math, "No, because you push away your fears like they are nothing. I mean yesterday you almost drowned."

We were at the bottom now. "What's the point of fear? I mean, I'm not going to let past experiences stop me from living life to the fullest." She said.

We looked both ways just like Barney always told us to in his little song and then crossed the 'street'. There were a few chairs set up all ready in our normal spot. As we drew closer I recognized my mom, Mrs. Hunter and Mrs. Flynn. "Well being able to forget is a gift."

I set up our two seats and she attempted to figure out how to work the sunscreen. It was a brand new bottle, and you had to twist it a certain way to open it... I finished setting up both chairs and an umbrella and she was still looking at it trying to figure it out.

"Let me see this before you spray your eyes out." I took the bottle from her.

She stuck her tongue out at me, and I grabbed it. "Le go of my tong." She struggled out.

"What's the magic word?" I sung.

"Pleth."

"Nope." I sang.

"Fuck you." She managed to get that out.

"Those work." I released her tongue.

She took the bottle from me and hit my upper arm with it. "Ow! What was that for?" I yelled rubbing my shoulder.

"What was that for?" She indicated her tongue.

"You stick your tongue out too much." I looked over her shoulder, "I'm going to go help Griffin set up the net." Griffin and Cole were attempting to set up volleyball net, sure they were failing, but they did catch a Joe in the net.

"Fine." She grumbled. I laughed and ran off to go help the two, or three of them, with the net.

"Want some help?" I asked.

"Get me out of here!" Joe yelled.

I laughed as I helped him out, sure it took a while, but I got it. It took us over a half hour to finish. And the sad thing was, we didn't finish. The dads took over. They finished in less than ten minutes.

We were just about to start playing when I heard a scream I knew too well for my liking, "Damn! Ow! Ow! Ow ow ow!"

I ran over to Payton. "What happened?"

"The freaking sunscreen opened! That's what happened!" She yelled covering her eye.

"Stop that!" I took her hand away from her eye and led her to one of the chairs I had set up. My mom handed me a water bottle, "Okay. Pay, angle your head up and open your eye." She did, "This is going to be cold." And I poured the water all over her face, aiming at her eye.

"Cold!" She yelled and jumped up hitting my arm over and over. God this girl is strong!

"Pay! Payton stop! Does your eye still hurt?" I tried to get her to stop.

"Oh my god it doesn't!" She yelled and hugged me. I wrapped an arm around her.

"Can I go play volleyball now?"

"After you test out this sunscreen." She said, handing me the can of spray on sunscreen.

"Here." I took it and sprayed my chest, "See." I handed it back to her.

"Go kick Griffin's butt!" She laughed.

"Will do." And I jogged off to go play.

PPOV:

"Stupid sunscreen." I grumbled as I walked over to the volleyball game. I sat down by one of the poles, over on Shane's side. I only sprayed my shoulders, I had a bad feeling about that thing. I did my face with lotion sunscreen.

"Score?" I asked no one in particular.

"15-7. Us." Cole grunted as he hit the ball back to the other side. That mean Shane's team was winning.

"Thank you. What are you playing to?" Once again to no one in particular.

"21." Shane answered. He spiked the ball down right at Griffin, who took it to the chest.

"Dude! That hurt!" He yelled rubbing his chest.

"Oh, suck it up." Shane said back.

"Payton see how mean he is to me?" He gave me puppy dog face.

Everyone thought we were together now; after all we did sleep in the same bed last night. Apparently, we kept this a secret among the kids, because no parents seemed to care... which meant they didn't know, 'cause trust me, they'd care. Ruth just went and slept in her parent's room, saying she had nightmares. Speaking of Ruth, she was yelling at someone to give Colton something.

"Oh. Poor Griffin. Next time, either hit it back or get out of the way." I said. He grumbled something to which I responded, "Love you too Griffy!" And I blew him a kiss. He proceeded to flip me off discreetly. Who's ready for a little acting? "Oh my god! Mr. Hampton! Griffin just flipped me off!" I made my voice sound on the verge of tears.

"Griffin!" Mr. Hampton yelled.

"Yeah. Yeah." He said coming to sit next to me.

"And you said drama club was a waste of time." I said, he cracked a smile.

"Heads up!" Ruth yelled. And not a second later, a hard thing hit me in the head.

"OW!" I yelled, the thing rolled over onto the court.

I saw Shane pick the thing up, "Wow. This thing does hate you." he laughed, and held up the sunscreen can that had sprayed me in the eye and then flew through the air to hit me in the head.

"The things possessed!" I yelled, jumping up, sure it made my head hurt but I had a mission. i ripped the thing of sunscreen out of Shane's hands and chucked it as far as I could into the sand dunes behind us. Call it littering, I call it Mission Get Crazy Possessed Can of SPF 30 Out Of My Sight: complete.


	12. Chapter 12

Well, the day went by _really _quick. All we really did was hang out on the beach. I was in the living room, alone, watching (well trying) TV. I hadn't seen Shane in a while, I guessed he was hanging out with the guys downstairs. All the parents were outside, so the older kids were probably pushing their luck as much as they could. It was around five when Ella came up to me, where I was lying on the couch.

"Hey chica." She said, sitting down by my feet, sitting so she was facing me. Aside from Shane, Ella was the nicest to me out of the older kids, with Griffin and Cassidy running a close second.

"Hey." I said, still flipping through the channels, trying to find _something_ good on that you didn't have to 'pay per view'.

"We're heading down to Penny's hill, want to come?" She asked.

For those of you who don't know, Penny hill is this huge sand hill. I think at one point it was the tallest in the U.S. or something, but I'm not sure. The view was supposed to be beautiful, but I've never been...

"Sure. Do you think we've go in the water?" I asked.

"We may..." She said.

"So wear a bathing suit?" She nodded. "Are we driving?" She shook her head. "Whose coming?"

"Um... all the older kids, Beau and you..." She said.

"Anyone else?" I asked.

"Nope."

This struck me odd. Sure, Beau and I were the oldest fourteen year olds, but usually, I was the last to be invited, since I didn't go to the same elementary school or have an older sibling, that was alive...

"Why am I invited, usually you go with only Beau..."

"We figured your _boyfriend_ would like it if you came.._._"

"He is not my boyfriend!" I yelled, jumping off the couch, right into Griffin.

"Yeah he is." Griffin said.

"No! He is not!" I yelled laughing. I ran over to the elevator and threw open the door.

I didn't know how to respond to what I saw. There was definitely shock, but that was overpowered by sadness, but that was overpowered by madness, that was overpowered by jealousy, which was then overpowered by hurt.

He broke apart from Cassidy, she moved her lips to his neck.

I was at a complete loss for words. I _never_ thought _he _would do this. _She_? _She _didn't surprise me. _She_ cheated on boyfriends with the boyfriend's best friend. She had no rules, no boundaries. If there was a baby maker on it, it was fair game. She had even stolen Lena's first boyfriend, Lena hasn't dated, or even hung out alone with a guy, since, she was to afraid of betrayal.

"Cassidy! Get the fuck off of me!" He yelled.

"Oh, so now you can fight." My voice was really calm, compared to a normal voice. Compared to what I was feeling inside, I can't even think of a comparison that does it justice, the difference was so huge.

"Payton! It wasn't me! She came onto me!" I looked at his hands; right on her hips, holding her to him,

"Really? 'cause your lips are telling me one story, but your body is telling the complete opposite..." I still sounded completely calm.

"CASSIDY?" It was Griffin. He must have heard Shane yell and came to investigate.

"What?" She snapped, breaking away from Shane, who didn't move an inch, staring at me, horrified.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" Griffin demanded.

"What the _hell_ does it look like I'm doing?" She had her hands on her hips. "Bu-Bye now." She closed the door.

We were silent, just listening to the elevator climb the shaft, "Payton?" His voice came. That one word, broke my resolve. I turned around and sobbed into his shoulder, he just held me.

I heard footsteps coming towards us. I looked over toward the stairs. "I'm guessing no Penny Hill?" Ella asked, attempting to make me laugh.

She got a watery laugh. She held out her arms and I walked over to her.

"I'm so sorry. I never thought that Shane would do that. I knew Cassidy did it, but I didn't think she would do it to any of us..." Natalia spoke quietly.

"Let's face it." I said pulling it away from Ella. "She did it with Lena's boyfriend, what would stop her from doing it with any of us?"

"WHAT?" The two girls yelled.

"That's why Lena doesn't date. Dylan was Lena's first boyfriend. Lena was at vocal lessons, and when she came home she found Dylan and Cassidy making out on the couch, both were half naked." Griffin stated gravely.

"And you did nothing?" Natalia asked.

"How do you think Lena got to and from lessons? I drove her, then went to the store for my mom, drove her home. I found out _after_ her..."

"This group of friends is soooo messed up." Ella laughed, and we all had to laugh along.

During dinner, I stayed downstairs in my room. Ella, Natalia and Griffin spread the rumor that I didn't feel good. They each brought me down a bit of food, so I still had dinner.

That night we hung out in my room and watched "I Love You Man" on TV. Now in case you didn't know, four teenagers don't exactly _fit_ on a double sized bed... so we were all pilled on top of each other.

The pillows were on the ground and Griffin was lying where they had once been. I had my head on his stomach, which although really muscley, was soft-ish. Ella and Natalia were on either side of me with their legs hanging off the edge.

It was around one in the morning and everyone else was asleep. Ruth had decided to sleep up in her parent's room for the rest of the vacation, so I didn't need to worry about her anymore.

There was a small knock on the door, I pretended to be asleep, but I watched the door open through my eye lashes. There was Shane. He walked over to the edge of the bed, right by my feet, and just stood there, staring at me. He stood there for what seemed like forever. Then he spoke, "I am so sorry. You don't deserve this. I don't deserve you." He left.

That lying cheating son of a bastard. Then again I had said time and time again that we weren't boyfriend/girlfriend. Back then, I didn't know if we were friends or more than that. Now, I have absolutely no idea.


	13. Chapter 13

"Wow. My two best friends leave me for this bitch." Was what woke me up.

It was none other than the she witch herself. "What the hell do you want Cassidy?" I put as much venom in my voice as I could muster having just woken up.

"I wasn't talking to you, bitch." She shot at me, "Come on girls, its nine and the day is perfect for tanning!" She sang to the other girls.

"Cassidy, leave." Ella commanded.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard her. Get the hell out of here." Natalia commanded.

"Whatever." She said, pretending to brush it off, and walked out.

"Is Griffin awake?" I asked since he wasn't there.

"I don't know. He left in the middle of the night, so parents wouldn't get pissed..."

"But me and him, we slept in the same bed and no parents found out..." I couldn't say his name, not so soon.

"Yeah, but then you had Natalia, Griffin and I covering for you.. now Cassidy would probably point the parents our way..." Ella explained.

"Why does she hate me so much?" I asked, "The other day she was helping me get ready for dinner and now..." I couldn't finish.

"He is the only one she has never slept with in this group, aside from Beau and Griffin, but I'm sure Beau will be next... you were the only thing in her way... so she lured you in and then..." Natalia said.

We were silent for a while. That silence was broken by a knock on the door. Ella got up and opened it, I couldn't see who was there, but by the tone of her voice I could tell.

"What do _you_ want?" She spat.

"Can I talk to Payton?" He asked.

Ella looked back at me, I steadily met her eyes, "No." She closed the door.

"Come on, you know that's not going to work..." Natalia said.

She was right, when Shane wanted to get in somewhere, he figure out how...

"No he won't. He didn't seem up for it..." Ella responded.

"Maybe I should talk to him..."

"No. You shouldn't have to go through that... He's the one who messed up." Ella snapped.

"Fine. You guys want to head down to the beach?" I asked.

"Sure." They left to get changed. I slid off my bed and went to the closet. I grabbed the first bathing suit I could find and threw it on. I slid on flip-flops, grabbed towel, and went to wait for the girls by the pool table. The girls met me a minute of two later and together we walked down to the beach.

**SPOV:**

"Shane!" Her obnoxious voice yelled.

"Get the hell away from me."

"But why? After last night?" She pouted, which she thought made her cute. I thought it made her even more hideous.

"BECAUSE OF LAST NIGHT! I mean what the fuck was that! You just pulled me in there and threw yourself at me!" I yelled. We were down at the beach and no one else was there, so I just let go and yelled as much as I could.

"You loved it!" She yelled back.

"I DID NOT!"

"Then why did you put your hands on my hips? That's a pretty obvious sign you liked it!" She smirked.

"I was trying to get you to stop grinding me! You freaking rapist!" I yelled, I spun on my heal and walked across the beach. I was just about to climb the first stair when she pulled me back, spun me around and attacked me with her lips...

Once again, she tried to grind against me, but I once again tried to push me away. I head footsteps coming from the boardwalk, and tried to push her away harder. Those footsteps came to a halt. She was stuck to me like a freaking leach. A pair of footsteps were running away down the boardwalk. A few more steps followed after. I finally got her off of me.

"You guys really have some nerve." Griffin said, looking down at us from the top of the stairs.

"Griff it's not..."

"It's not what it looks like?" He yelled, "Tell me then, Shane? What the hell is it? You have Payton, who just confronted her sister's killer and raper, completely in love with you and you cheat on her with that...skank!"

"But I..."

"But you what? You got bored and moved on?" He gave me a look of disgust, "You know, after Jasmine, I never thought that you of all people would cheat on a girlfriend..." And he turned and ran after the other footsteps. One of which, had to be Payton's.

"Are you happy! You freaking ruin my life!" I yelled at Cassidy, before I ran off after the others...

**PPOV:**

Oh my god. Oh my god. I felt like I was hyperventilating. This time, it was so much worse than the other... I don't know why, but it was. I had taken off running, Ella and Natalia followed closely behind, but I was a lot faster and got too far ahead for them to catch up. I ran into my room and locked both doors. I collapsed on my bed. I couldn't breath... It took all I could not to just curl up in a ball and die.

I felt so hurt, but I also felt stupid for being hurt. Did I honestly think this wouldn't happen? We never said we were dating, and I had said I wanted to start over... so technically, he was up for grabs. But it still hurt more than anything else...

There were a bunch of knocks on the door, but I didn't answer.

"Payton! Payton! We know your in there! Let us in! We need to talk!" Ella yelled. I hoped the parents were all upstairs...

"Payton, you need someone in there!" Natalia yelled slightly out of breath.

"Guys. Let her be. If she wants, she'll come to us..." Griffin's voice said outside the door, "Payton, we'll be out by the pool if you need us okay."

"Fine." I said, quietly. I heard them walk away.

I just laid there on a bed, sobbing, but without any tears. I drew in gasp after gasp. I was so out of it I didn't hear the rattling of a paper clip in the keyhole and the door open.

"Payton." Was all he said.

I didn't know why, but I stood up and ran to him. He wrapped me in his arms, which I didn't push off... He picked me up like a small child, closed the door, locking it, and sat down on the bed with me in his lap. The crying had already stopped, his presence alone did that.

"Payton. I am soooo sorry. I swear I didn't do anything. She came at me both times... I swear I would never do anything like that to you..." By now, my senses came around.

I untangled myself from him and stood up, "I'm not sure if I believe that. I think you should leave." He looked at me with heartbroken eyes and left. I closed the door and locked it behind him. I sank down to the floor with my back to the door. And started sobbing again, this time with the tears.

I had no one to turn to. After all, who comforts you when the comforter is the one causing the pain?


	14. Chapter 14

The day passed quickly. Well, not quickly, but, I slept the entire day, happy? After the encounter with Shane I had cried myself to sleep. I know it sounds pathetic, but It's true.

It was ten when I finally woke up. I changed into gilly hicks boxer shorts and a tank top that was too tight in all the right places and a little too short, call me a slut, I call it tired. I walked out of my room and went upstairs. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed this frozen fruit thing, that was actually looked good.

"Look who finally woke up..." a voice said. I spun around, expecting to find the worst, but it was only Griffin.

"Hey Griffin..." I said, sucking on my fruit thing.

"We're all watching a movie. You want to join?" He asked.

"Sure. Why not?" I start to walk out of the kitchen, but he grabbed my arm, stopping me.

"Everyone is there." He said, emphasizing 'everyone'.

I got the point, "I'll be fine." I walked over to the living room. Every spot was full, but Ella and Natalia moved a bit and let me sit next to them. So it was, Natalia, Ella and I on one couch, with Griffin sitting on the ground in front of us. Beau, Cassidy and Cole on another with Joe on the ground. Then Shane was lying on his own couch all alone. Serves him right, but why isn't Cassidy with him... Oh well.

"Okay, so do we watch, 'Mirrors' or 'Final Destination'?" Shane asked, flipping through the movie channels.

"Final Destination, Mirrors is on after it on channel 10..." Griffin answered...

And so we watched Final Destination. And let me tell you, if it was supposed to be a legit horror film, it was terrible, if it was supposed to be a mock-horror film, then it was perfect! But I'm pretty sure it was supposed to scare people... so I have to say, worst scary movie ever...

By now almost everyone had left to go to bed. The only exceptions were Griffin, who had fallen asleep on the ground, myself, and of course, Cassidy and Shane.

"Um... I'm going to get a water, then I'm going to bed." I said, walking off. Now me being the genius did that in the wrong order. I went downstairs only to hear, "CASSIDY FOR THE LAST TIME GET OFF OF ME!" and then a thud. I krept farther up the stairs, just enough to see what was going on...

"Ow! Baby, you know you don't mean that..."

"I do though! Both times you freaking forced yourself on me, and then as soon as Payton sees, you stop. What the hell do you have against her?"

"You want to know what I have against her? She's perfect!" She yelled. "She's smart, she's beautiful, even if she won't admit it, she's funny, sweet and athletic. She's everything any guy looks for all in one package. And on top of it all, she doesn't even admit it. I don't even think she knows! She only had one boyfriend if that, and the entire school is after her!"

"So you're jealous of her?" He asked to clarify things.

"No shit Sherlock! The bitch is captain of how many teams?"

"Three, four if you count cheerleading."

"Exactly my point! She has everything! But she's not getting you..."

"Is that so, Cassidy?" I asked, emerging from my hiding place.

"And now she's snooping around. Well I've got news for you, bitch..." she said, walking over to me, "Shane is the one thing you aren't getting..."

"Really and why is that, whore?" I asked in a too-sweet voice.

"Because he is mine." And then she went to 'punch me', which could barely be called a tap... of course, she never made contact, since I grabbed her arm, pinned her on her stomach to the ground and had my knee pressed into her back...

"You might want to add, 'able to fend for herself' to the list. Now you have five seconds to get the hell out of my sight, or else you will be sorry..." I released her and she was out of there faster then I thought possible, leaving Shane and I alone.

"I'm so sorry..."

"I'm so sorry..." We both blurted out at the same time.

"You? I'm the one who should be sorry..."

"You kidding me? I'm the one who's sorry..." Once again over lapping each other.

I climbed up onto the couch and put a hand over his mouth, remember the height difference... "I'm the one who should be sorry. I didn't trust you, and you tried to tell me, but I didn't believe you..." I moved my hand from his mouth to cupping his face. We both leaned in, and just as our lips were about to touch, Griffin let out a huge snore and I broke down giggling.

"Griffin... Griffin... wake up..." Shane tried to get Griffin to wake up. Eventually he did wake up, but only enough to hall his butt downstairs.

"Now where were we?" I asked as he walked over to me, where I was standing on the couch.

"I think right about here..." He leaned in again.

I tangled my hands in his hair and he wrapped his arms around my waist... and just as our lips were about to touch he pulled back...

"Wait. I don't kiss girls who aren't my girlfriend..." He smirked.

I smirked back, "What about Cassidy?" 

"I don't kiss girls who aren't my girlfriend willingly... better?"

"Much. Now what are we going to do about that? 'cause I want to kiss you..." I asked.

"Well... you could always become my girlfriend, then there would be no problem..."

"You wouldn't be embarassed to have a freshman as a girlfriend, all mighty junior?" I joked.

"As long as that's freshman's you. I don't care..." and then, after two tries, our lips met.

"What is going on!" A voice interrupted us, only moments later... It was Audrey.

"Um..." Was all we could think of.

"I thought you two hated each other!"

"Where have you been all this week?" Shane asked her.

"Apparently not in this house!" And she walked back down the stairs and I thought I heard her mutter "I must be sleep walking..."

"It's kinda late... we should get to bed..." Shane said, obviously unhappy at this thought.

"Fine. Let me see the remote." I set the sleep timer for an hour, changed it to a funny movie, found a blanket and laid down on a couch.

"And where am I going?" He asked.

"Sleep with your head that way... parents won't care..." So we fell asleep on the couch, heads on different ends and barely touching. The parents wouldn't care at all, but that's 'cause they didn't see out hand linked under the covers...

**A.N.** So what did you think?


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